Back Hoe Maintenance

[Coyote machine]

Lloyd,
thanks for the detailed pics. They show where the problem is. In the 1st pic are you going to weld a stop for each nut below the step or weld the orange station piece to the grey frame?

 

[Lloyd_E]

If others could post their solutions that would be great. My thoughts are to weld all contact points:
brace to hoe station unit, brace to sub-frame and hoe station unit to sub-frame unless someone can see a reason not to.

I also wonder if the brace to hoe station unit and brace to sub-frame would work without welding the sub frame to the hoe station unit.

The holes are probably oval now...

 

[kraftykeltic]

The bolts are used to clamp the pieces together, coarse thread bolts do a lousy job of clamping pieces together. A better solution is to use fine thread bolts, they may be difficult to find in some areas, but they can increase the clamping force, stopping movement of the parts they are holding together.

 

[chubby]

Just a thought, engineers are pretty sharp and I believe if they thought frame to station should be welded it would have been welded. Don't get me wrong, mine has so much flex the hoe seat hits the top liink holder. Every 100hrs I retorque hoe, loader and mounts. Each time fewer bolts are loose. Just reaching the 500hr mark and I am sure one or two will be loose. In the hoe manual it list bolt torque spec's. The frame to station bolts are up there in the 400 lbs range. If you don't have a torque multiplier go rent or borrow one. A piece of pipe on your torque wrench is not an answer. This frame and station sure do flex and one must assume this is the design the engineers planned. I use the tractor mainly as a back hoe and would guess half of my hours are using the hoe. My hoe only comes off to move what little snow we get. But if you have never torqued to spec's not guessing but checking in the high numbers then I would believe you will never have the machine "tuned" to its potential.

 

[DK35vince]

Just a thought, engineers are pretty sharp and I believe if they thought frame to station should be welded it would have been welded.

My opinion is the sub frame is bolted together more due to shipping/handling reasons than anything else.
I bought my backhoe still on the crate and installed the sub frame/backhoe on my tractor myself.
The sub frame comes completely disassembled for easy shipping.
Welding the braces will not hurt a thing. I welded mine and wouldn't hesitate to do it again vs messing with the constantly loosening bolts.

 

[IXLR8]

My opinion is the sub frame is bolted together more due to shipping/handling reasons than anything else.
I bought my backhoe still on the crate and installed the sub frame/backhoe on my tractor myself.
The sub frame comes completely disassembled for easy shipping.
Welding the braces will not hurt a thing. I welded mine and wouldn't hesitate to do it again vs messing with the constantly loosening bolts.

This is what my dealer told me, that the sub frame/braces come in pieces and are bolted together strictly for shipping/handling reasons.
It will be about a month before I am at my dealers again, if he has any BH frames welded up I will take pictures and post them.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Just a thought, engineers are pretty sharp and I believe if they thought frame to station should be welded it would have been welded. Don't get me wrong, mine has so much flex the hoe seat hits the top liink holder. Every 100hrs I retorque hoe, loader and mounts. Each time fewer bolts are loose. Just reaching the 500hr mark and I am sure one or two will be loose. In the hoe manual it list bolt torque spec's. The frame to station bolts are up there in the 400 lbs range. If you don't have a torque multiplier go rent or borrow one. A piece of pipe on your torque wrench is not an answer. This frame and station sure do flex and one must assume this is the design the engineers planned. I use the tractor mainly as a back hoe and would guess half of my hours are using the hoe. My hoe only comes off to move what little snow we get. But if you have never torqued to spec's not guessing but checking in the high numbers then I would believe you will never have the machine "tuned" to its potential.

This is exactly what I am experiencing... "Don't get me wrong, mine has so much flex the hoe seat hits the top liink holder." I may try to find fine threaded bolts/nuts before I go the welded route. I am worried the bouncing/flex may cause other issues.


Thanks all for the info...